A powerful explosion tore through a 24-hour fitness centre in Amsterdam Nieuw-West shortly before midnight on Thursday, wounding seven people and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents from a neighbouring apartment block. Two of the injured sustained serious wounds. Emergency services conducted a prolonged search of the collapsed building before confirming that no further victims were found beneath the rubble.

The blast struck a gym occupying a ground-floor annex of a nine-storey residential block on the Osdorper Ban, in the western outskirts of the Dutch capital. The explosion triggered a fire that burned for hours, and the structural damage to all four walls of the gym made it too dangerous for rescue workers to enter. Search teams deployed drones and sniffer dogs before authorities ultimately brought in a crane to systematically dismantle the ruins stone by stone — a process that took the better part of the day.

The cause of the explosion has not been officially established, and investigators say they are keeping all options open. The gym's owner stated on Instagram that security footage shows the blast originating